BW Offshore has today signed a cooperation agreement China’s ICBC Financial Leasing to establish a long-term strategic partnership to jointly pursue large international infrastructure projects with a focus on FPSOs.
“The two companies intend to offer cost effective production solutions for the global oil and gas industry,” BW Offshore said in a release to the Oslo Bors today.
“A strong financial partner enables BW Offshore to address new growth opportunities,” commented Andreas Sohmen-Pao, the Chairman of the board of BW Offshore.
The pair will proceed with further detailed discussions with the aim to establish a project consortium framework, and identify other potential strategic cooperation opportunities.
“The intention is to explore and develop mutually beneficial FPSO and FPSO related projects globally in the interest of both companies and local Chinese-invested enterprises, and to build a platform for promoting Norwegian and Chinese cooperation on the international arena,” the release stated.
The Chinese leasing giant’s first equity participation will be in the BW Catcher FPSO through the subscription of preference shares. The FPSO, a $1.2bn investment, will operate on the Catcher field in the UK North Sea with start-up towards the end of 2017.
The parties further agreed to establish a cooperation to explore the Kudu-gas-to-power infrastructure project where BW Offshore holds a 56% stake in the upstream license.
“This partnership opens up for new models for developing FPSOs and FPSO related projects,” said Carl Arnet, the CEO of BW Offshore.
